New Delhi: Delhi Daredevils will be keen to extend their newfound momentum by winning a third consecutive Indian Premier League (IPL) match when they clash against Mumbai Indians here on Saturday.
Daredevils, helmed by new skipper Zaheer Khan, began with a bump, getting beaten by Kolkata Knight Riders, raising fears of yet another disappointing campaign that has been their story in the short history of the IPL tournament.
More than the loss, it was the manner of capitulation, by a heavy margin of nine wickets, that invoked the fears of the worst in the Delhi ranks.
But unlike previous editions, the Daredevils have found an answer to overturn their false start, beating Kings XI Punjab and Royal Challengers Bangalore subsequently.
These two victories were achieved as comfortably as they were beaten by KKR, inspiring confidence within the team.
The victories have lifted the Delhi boys to a healthy third in the standings with four points from three matches, in contrast to their opponents, who also have four points but have played two more.
South African opener Quinton de Kock has been their headline-grabber, cracking the tournament’s maiden century (109 off 51 balls) to help them chase down an imposing target of 192 runs against Bengaluru.
But not much is there to write home about apart from de Kock, as the other batsmen collectively failed against KKR — shot down for only 98.
But what would worry Daredevils mentor Rahul Dravid most is that besides de Kock and Karun Nair, the team’s batting line-up is relatively untested.
Dravid would ideally want his other performers, like South African J.P. Duminy and expensive acquisitions Pawan Negi and Carlos Brathwaite, to come to the party.
West Indian Brathwaite became an overnight sensation after blasting England’s Ben Stokes for four consecutive sixes to help his team win the World Twenty20 final. But he is yet to warm up to his latest task.
The management though is willing to show patience on the mercurial West Indian though how long Brathwaite needs to get going remains to be seen.
Delhi’s bowling is in better shape relatively with Zaheer using all his experience to guide the line-up in his sunset appearance as a cricketer.
Chris Morris and Mohammed Shami make up for a decent pace attack. But their trump card is undoubtedly veteran leg-spinner Amit Mishra, who has an impressive IPL record, with young Pawan Negi by his side.
Mumbai have been a victim of their inconsistency, incidentally also winning against Punjab and Bengaluru.
The defending champions, however, served error-ridden performances to go down against Rising Pune Supergiants, Gujarat Lions and Sunrisers Hyderabad.
They have struggled to hit any rhythm but showed signs of getting their act together while successfully chasing 171 against Bengaluru.
Mumbai’s batting has lacked fluency. Their opening act have been poor with only skipper Rohit Sharma showing skill and zeal to fight it out against adversity.
Rohit has led from the front, scoring two match-winning half centuries. But head coach Ricky Ponting would like to have his other batsmen offer more to the cause.
Kiwi Martin Guptill replaced injured West Indian Lendl Simmons but was dropped against Bengaluru after flopping against Hyderabad too.
Injuries have also pegged back Mumbai with Sri Lankan pacer Lasith Malinga ruled out of the tournament and Simmons flying back with a niggle. However, Kiwi pacer Mitchell McClenaghan has more than made up for Malinga’s absence with six wickets so far.
Meanwhile, on a high after back-to-back wins, in-form Sunrisers Hyderabad will aim to continue their winning run when they take on Kings XI Punjab on Saturday.
After two losses in a row, skipper David Warner led from the front to steer Hyderabad to a convincing win over Mumbai Indians followed by Gujarat Lions to climb to fourth in the table with four points from as many games.
Punjab are struggling at the moment and are placed at the bottom of the table with two points from four games, having lost three and won one. The side comes into the match after a six-wicket loss at the hands of Kolkata Knight Riders.
Hyderabad will again rely on skipper Warner to fire for them at the top at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. The Australian hard-hitting batsman sits at the top of the leading run scorers with 235 runs.
His unbeaten 137-run partnership with Shikhar Dhawan helped them bag a 10-wicket win over Gujarat and will give the side a lot of confidence ahead of their home game. Dhawan who has not been among the runs lately, will take confidence from his unbeaten 53-run knock to do better on Saturday.
Moises Henriques, Eion Morgan, Deepak Hooda, Naman Ojha coming up in the middle and lower order make a formidable batting line-up.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been leading the bowling attack with full responsibility and he is well supported at the other end by young Bangladeshi sensation Muztafizur Rahman, Barinder Sran and Henriques.
On the other hand, Punjab despite having match-winners like Glenn Maxwell, Shaun Marsh, David Miller and Murali Vijay in their side have been inconsistent in their batting department.
The Miller-led side will aim to put aside their previous defeats and put up a good show to climb up the points table ladder.
In the bowling line-up, Mohit Sharma, Axar Patel, Sandeep Sharma will look to take a step ahead and put up a collective effort to stop the Hyderabad batting powerhouse from exploding.
